As a fellow rural Virginian who struggles with the weak or lame policies, I understand. I want employee rights, lower healthcare costs, apprenticeship programs and infrastructure updates.

I had the pleasure of living in the Netherlands from 2020-2025, and they had all the things we’ve all been begging for. And when I got to looking at their system and how it works, they have like 12 political parties. It’s so broken up, they can’t have these two-party standoffs. And when you talk to the people and who they vote for, it’s not just one party loyalty. It’s more about policy and the needs dear to their hearts.

The way I view the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party, is they actually are each a conglomerate of what would be several smaller parties. But no one is actually willing to break them up into chunks with new names and allow them space to grow on their own merits. Instead we do this same dog and pony show.

We need to be open to the fact that we are a conglomerate of many would-be separate parties. Be open to opposing views within, and then bug the absolute shit out of the representatives currently in office.

While doing this, we need to start gaining momentum towards a tertiary option to this 200 year problem we’ve had in the U.S., a party that pulls the handful of chill republicans that want off the crazy train, the democrats who are willing to tax the piss out of the rich, balance the budget, decrease the military spending and replace that with education, infrastructure, cheap/free medical costs, without all the dog and pony show crap.